Annoyed by the incessant pocket weight of my latest mobile I gathered past relics together for a mug shot. Is this a march of progress or a protest march? – I’ll let you decide with some thoughts of my own.

In the line up are a Motorola 8800X, a HTC Vario MDA, an HTC Desire , a Samsung Galaxy S4, a Samsung Galaxy S7 and a Samsung Galaxy S20 FE. I omitted an Apple iPhone 4 as I replaced it with the S4 after a few weeks confinement. The march of progress through the iPhone range would look similar albeit now with a pocket friendly mini range.

TLDR; unless you like nostalgia and run out of Netflix series to binge… Motorola’s 8800X, along with its LED 8500X predecessor, could never have been described as a pocket mobile although eminently more portable than the 4500x ‘Transportable’ brick, my first mobile phone. Some may say the 8800X should be excluded from this line up as it was not a smart phone — but at that time it was smart to have one rather than rely on public telephone boxes if you remember what they were like. And luckily the 4500x secured me a new job with an international consultancy that I will always remember.

The T-Mobile Vario MDA was a mistake. I’d been using a Psion MX5 while commuting to and fro London and the luxury of a keyboard tempted me into theT-Mobile shop in Hammersmith. With an innovative slide-out keyboard, the colour LCD Vario seemed ideal. Alas, Microsoft’s mobile OS spoilt the hardware’s capability and the small touch sensitive screen required a fiddly stylus to operate with any degree of precision. Having removable mini SD card was handy for transferring poor quality images and documents. Still, the Psion was relegated as data internet connectivity was key and I was hooked on the smart concept.

As soon as the contract period allowed I jumped to Android with a shiny new HTC Desire.  It’s 3.7 inch screen seemed so much better than the Vario and the richer Android feature. At this time competition between Android manufacturers lead to rapid advances in handset capability with HTC, Google, LG and Samsung all staking claim to having the better device.

I jumped ship to a Samsung Galaxy S4 primarily due to the amazing HD super AMOLED 1920×1080 441ppi touchscreen display. Buying the unlocked handset outright seemed best rather than being locked into the increasing contract deals that were fleecing UK customers.  I could replace the battery and swap SD memory card in the workhorse with its 13 megapixel camera appetite for bytes. So it just kept going even taking a few tumbles without a whimper.

Each year Samsung would tempt me with a shiny new model but I was not convinced. They had to stop providing Android upgrades and security patches before I, like many others, was forced to stump up more cash for a Samsung S7. And waiting a few years, there were noticeable improvements mainly in responsiveness due to larger faster memory and processor. In fact the Galaxy S7’s feature set served me until the recent upgrade to the Samsung S20FE. The first time I’ve avoided buying the latest flagship that would have been the S22. Why? Apart from availability, I can’t justify the prices. Why should a mobile cost nearly £1000? The Fan Edition refurb was similar to the price of the S4 and S7 and that’s enough.

I object to these manufacturers policy that forces customers to ‘upgrade’ as they won’t support the latest Android OS. Yes I could probably have ‘rootkitted’ it but that can just zap time and lead to security holes that are best avoided.

So what’s the S20FE like compared to the Motorola? It’s nearly as tall :0)

 

Series of mobile phones showing increasing height with age except for the Motorola brick

Postscript

Having lived with the Samsung S20 FE into the warmer months now I have to say it’s too large to fit comfortably in my pocket and heavy enough to be annoying. Okay, in cooler months in a jacket or coat pocket the S20’s bulk is acceptable. Yes it feels more responsive than the S7 and the screen is larger and brighter so you may forgive the extra baggage. And having multiple lenses with optical zoom removes the need to carry around a heavy standalone camera. But Samsung, please stop the march of size and consider usability — it’s meant to be mobile, not another brick.